Annual Report 2010 - Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

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View of the exhibition rooms in the Jägerhof, with the
Grossschönau Damask Weaving room, 1913, in the foreground
GeRMAnY’S on lY FolK ARt MuSeuM
GetS A FACelI Ft
The holdings of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
reflect the entire world and their exhibitions give them an
international presence. One of the museums in the alliance
of world­famous art collections, however, focuses
particularly on Saxony: the Museum für Sächsische Volkskunst
mit Puppentheatersammlung (Museum of Saxon
Folk Art with Puppet Theatre Collection).
This small but delightful museum attracts visitors of all
ages throughout the year, especially families: it could even
be dubbed the “intergenerational centre” of the Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen. Yet this family museum is special in
another respect, too: it is the only museum of folk art in
Germany. As if there had not already been enough celebrations
and openings in 2010, in November this building was
reopened after being thoroughly renovated. For Dr. Igor
Jenzen, Director of the Museum since 2004, the need for
extensive modernisation was also an opportunity to carefully
modernise the content of the exhibition whilst paying
due respect to its traditions.
The ground floor first provides explanations of what folk
art is and what Oskar Seyffert (1862 – 1940), Professor at
the Kunstgewerbeschule Dresden and himself a painter,
understood by the concept. He regarded folk art (‘Volkskunst’)
as a counter­concept to applied arts (‘Kunstgewerbe’),
a term which had fallen into disrepute. At the time,
this was a revolutionary approach. At exhibitions, trade
a visitor in front of the mechanical theatre depicting
the Passion of Christ in seven scenes
fairs and in lectures he disseminated his ideas with great
enthusiasm. In 1896, he eventually founded the Museum
für Sächsische Volkskunst.
The exhibition explores different aspects of the broad
spectrum of folk art, ranging from simple handicrafts and
the typical products of Saxon domestic industry, through
the skills of traditional needlework and craftsmanship,
down to individual endeavours to beautify everyday objects.
Taking Saxon pottery as an example, the regional
character of folk art is illustrated according to technical
and stylistic aspects as well as market and guild­specific
considerations.
The most important traditional spheres in which folk art
plays a significant role are religion, love and death. The
highlight of this part of the collection is a mechanical
figure theatre from the first half of the 19th century which
can now be presented in its entirety following its thorough
restoration. Its seven scenes arranged in a semicircle
depict the Passion of Christ from the Last Supper to the
Resurrection. This mechanical marvel with its highly dramatic
movements takes us back to the time before the
invention of film, when there were various attempts at
reproducing life by means of mechanical devices. Its constructor
rented accommodation in a town for a period of
three months and charged 10 pfennigs admission for visitors
to see the mechanical theatre in action. Today, the
animation is shown in a video.
Whereas after the Second World War the concept of folk
art in the Federal Republic of (West) Germany withered
into insignificance, the GDR filled the old theme with a